Air Battle
over Holland

May 1940

(Last
updated: may 11, 2001)Actions
of our Air force in the early May days of 1940.

Before
May 1940 the Dutch air force was part of the Army. But during mobilisation
time, a new command was formed: the Air Defense Command, commanded by General
P.W.Best.
Due to wrong economy measures of an incompetent government, the defense
of the Netherlands in comparison with the German Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe
was far in minority, as well in materials and weapons as in number.The
fact that our country lasted five days against an overwhelming dominance
is deserved to the efforts of our men of the army, navy and airforce.

Although
in practice bad trained and supplied with old-fashioned weapons, our forces
did a performance that is unique in war history.

Fighters, built in 1936-1937

On
the very first day of the battle (May 10, 1940), our Air Defense was surprised
by the strategy of attack of the Luftwaffe. The German air force intended
to destroy our Air force in one strike, but succeeded only partly. By flying
North of our country over the North Sea and after a bend of 180 degrees,
our airfields were attacked and bombed from the West, a direction unexpected
by our air defense. During this raid, 11 of the 12 Fokker G-1 fighters
at the airfield in Bergen were damaged and partly destroyed. Only one pilot
succeeded to take off his plane. Later on 6 of the damaged G-1's were repaired
by the mechanics, so they could join the battle again.

On
the first day of the war, 15 of the 124 operational airplanes were destroyed
on the ground. In spite of that, our airmen and anti-aircraft personnel
succeeded in destroying 328 of the 1024 deployed German aircraft.
(One third of the whole German Air Transport fleet in one day; this never
happened again during WW2!)

At
Schiphol(Amsterdam Airport) 8 fighters Fokker D-21 and 9 bombers
Fokker T-5 were available on the 9th of May 1940. During the bombing
by the Germans, early in the morning the 10th of May, alot of planes were
damaged, but some D-21's and T-5's were able to take-off and start fighting
against the much faster Messerschmitt Me-109 fighters of the Luftwaffe.

A number
of German Aircraft were shot down by our airmen.

The
Navy airfield "De Kooij" at Den Helder had 11 Fo.D-21 fighters of which
4 were destroyed on the first war day.

10
G-1's, were placed at Waalhaven, near Rotterdam, 1 of them was destroyed
during German bombing, but the other 9 could take-off amidst the bomb craters
and even succeeded in bringing down 7 German aircraft.

One
of our in 1938 built bombers

Not
all of our T-5 bombers were provided with bomb racks. So part of them were
used as fighters and destroyed a number of German Aircraft.

The
T-5 bomber had a wingspan of 21 meters and a weight of 7.250 kg. It could
carry a bomb load of 1.000 kg.With
its 2 Bristol Pegasus engines it was fairly fast and reached a maximum
speed of 417 km/h.It
was the first aircraft of the LVA that was provided with retractable gear.

Bombing
the Maas Bridges in Rotterdam failed, some planes were shot down or damaged.

In
addition to Fokker aircraft, some Koolhoven FK-51 reconnaissance
and American Douglas-8A bombers were available at Ypenburg airbase.In
those days the last were used as fighters. Because of low speed and
bad maneuverability, these planes could hardly be useful in the air combats.
A number of them were destroyed during the attack of Ypenburg and Ockenburg
airfields and the Douglas planes succeeding in becoming airborne, were
destroyed on the 10th of May.

After
landing of Luftwaffe transport planes at Waalhaven Airport, Rotterdam,
from Schiphol airport an attempt was made to destroy those invaders. Three
T-5 bombers, escorted by 7 D-21 fighters performed a successful raid and
destroyed several of the Junkers on the ground.During
these attack two of the T-5's and one D21 were downed by German fighters.Also
the British Air Force did bomb raids on Waalhaven Airport that night.

One
T-5, commanded by Lt. Swagerman (Lieutenant pilot-observer), performed
an effective raid on Ockenburg Airstrip near The Hague, destroying German
Junkers that had landed there. Old Fokker C-X and C-V planes
attacked Ypenburg Airfield very successful.

Fokker
G-1The
Pride of our Air Force

After
attacking Luftwaffe Aircraft on the first day of war, the G-1's from Waalhaven
couldn't land on their base; and lack of fuel and ammunition forced them
to divert to the airport of Haamstede (now a Glider field) and the beach
of Voorne-Putten.Dogfighting
over South-Holland resulted in the lost of some D-21's. Sgt.
Roos
shot down an Me 109 and in throwing off his canopya
German fighter was damaged and fell.Later
this day, Waalhaven was also bombed by British Air forces.

On
the 13th of May, Lt. Swagerman in his T-5, only escorted by 2 G-1's, attended
to bomb the Moerdijk bridge in order to delay the march of German
tank forces from the South towards Rotterdam.His
plane was carrying two bombs of 300 kgs. each and he decided to make two
raids. The first bomb missed the bridge and in the second raid the last
bomb grazed on a concrete pile of the bridge, but didn't explode.They
were attacked by German fighters and AAguns and crashed near Ridderkerk.
All of the men were killed. Also one of the G-1's was destroyed..

T-5/D-21
formation

After
the warB. Swagerman was posthumous
decorated with the "Militaire Willemsorde", the highest Netherlands order
for courage and faith. One of the D-21 pilots: A.H.
Bodaan, killed on the first war day, was also posthumous decorated
with the MWO.

Another
three G-1's, under construction at the Fokker Aircraft Factory and forced
ready, were able to attack the German positions at the Grebbe-frontline.

During
the last days of this short war, some old-fashioned C-V and C-X
biplanes were used for disturbing activities at the front and near Moerdijk;
none of these reconnaissance planes had been destroyed on the first day,
because of hided placement round the air field of Bergen. One Fokker C-V,
pilot sgt. Roeloffzen, tried to attack
enemy positions at the Grebbe Lines near Wageningen, but was shot by 3
Me's and crashed near Opheusden, south of the Rhine in front of the Dutch
lines.A
number of C-V reconnaissance planes, from the temporary airfield of Middenmeer,
surveyed the Wons and Kornwerderzand positions in Friesland.

Not
only the LVA but also the MLD (Marine Luchtvaart Dienst - Naval Air Service)
took part in the battle. A Fokker sea-plane C-XIV-W succeeded in
bringing down a much faster Messerschmitt.

Sea
plane of the MLD

Regarding
the superiority of the german Luftwaffe, the existence of our small Air
Force was finished soon.After
five days of war, only 36 Dutch aircraft were left.Some
of our airmen (mostly from the pilot school), took the chance to escape
with their planes to France. They had to leave their planes their and were
shipped to Great Britain.A
number of remained aircraft were destroyed by their crew and some were
captured by the Germans.

As
on the 14th of May the city of Rotterdam was heavily bombed by 84 Heinkel
He-111 bombers, this catastrophe caused the Dutch commander-in-chief General
Winkelman to surrender, as the Germans threatened to bomb Utrecht,
maybe more cities.

A heroic
battle was performed with great courage and sacrifice of our airmen, naval-
and ground forces.

On
the 18th of May, 1940, General Winkelman decorated the Air Force Corps
with the Military Willems Order.The
"Militaire Willemsorde" is the highest military reward in the Netherlands.

Only
pilots who reached England could continue the combat against the Germans.
They were placed in several RAF-squadrons.

In
1943 the Dutch airmen got their own squadron. As allied pilots they served
over Britain, took part in D-Day in France and actions over Holland and
had a humble part in destroying the entire German Luftwaffe.